Very useful jig for gluing and routing thin material

I have been using this jig for gluing thin material for some time now:

(i think the basic idea was taken from time life’s “art of woodworking”). The jig is basically piece of 19mm hardwood plywood with packing tape cover and 9mm pieces of plywood brad nailed at both ends. the wedges are tapped with a mallet to create the pressure.

Lately, i decided to recycle my thin scrap into coasters, very much like tonyu’s.

Unlike tonyu, i don’t have a lathe (I think that this is what he used, but not sure), so I had to use router for shaping the center. After several sleepless nights and much contemplation, i suddenly noticed that the gluing jig is perfect for holding the coaster while routing.

This is how it is done:

first, you put your thin material into the jig and wedge it.

Next, you put your template on top and brad nail it onto the plywood scrap

I used my router with the template collar that extends 7mm and the template was 9mm thick.

This is the piece after the routing, and an almost finished coaster (just one layer of LO/terp/varnish. going to put some poly on it as well)

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...